Mercury plunges, fog hits rail traffic, 22 trains cancelled

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 16

As the city woke up to a bitterly cold Monday morning at 8°C, the chill continued to trouble passengers at the railway station.

As many as 22 express and passenger trains running from Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Pathankot and others bound to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Ganga Nagar are cancelled by the railways from December 16 to January 31.

Adverse weather conditions affected the schedule of several other local trains also, causing inconvenience to the passengers. Unaware about the changed schedule of the trains, the passengers kept waiting at the railway station for hours as several trains were reportedly running late. Passengers travelling daily to and from Jalandhar to Amritsar were among the worst affected. All major trains from the local station were running late by three to five hours. Around six trains running between Jalandhar and Amritsar, including Jansadharan Express, Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Express and Jannayak Express and Jansewa Express, have been cancelled for several days between December 16-January 31.

Surinder Kumar, a student who was waiting for Shan-e-Punjab, which was 45 minutes late, said: “Though many trains are late today, in this season even a few minutes’ wait is harrowing due to the extreme chill. Especially when you are travelling with children and elderly, the wait gets all the more challenging.”

After the cancellation of Jansewa Express that also saw several cancellations and delays for the past few days, the migrant population suffered a harrowing time at the station as it’s the only train that directly connects them to their villages in UP and Bihar.

***Cancelled trains

Chandigarh-Amritsar (12241), a daily express train, Jammutavi-Haridwar Express (14606), Haridwar- Jammutavi Express (14605), Amritsar-Lalkuan Express (14616), Jansadharan Express (22424), Shahid Express (14674), Ajmer-Amritsar Express (19611), Amritsar-Ajmer Express (19614), Shri Ganganagar-Jammu Tawi Express (14713), Jammu Tawi-Shri GangaNagar Express (14714), Hawra-Amritsar Express (13005), Amritsar-Hawra Express (13006), Jannayak Express (15211), Janseva Express (15212) and Shahid Express (14673).